Sixers down Wizards in Philadelphia

December 13, 10:24 PMWashington Wizards ExaminerGeorge Panagakos

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Dixon makes the most out of getting burned by
knocking the ball out of Lou Williams' hands, but in
doing so, picks up one of his six fouls on the night
(AP Photo/Tom Mihalek).

The Sixers dominated the Wizards on the boards tonight, 46-37, and the combination of Elton Brand, who broke out with 27 points, and Samuel Dalembert, who finished the game with a whopping 17 rebounds, led to an easy, 104-89 victory for the Sixers.

JaVale McGee picked up two fouls with 8:08 to go in the first quarter and would only play a total of about five and a half minutes during the game.  Instead, Head Coach Ed Tapscott focused on Andray Blatche, who clocked over 31.5 minutes, and Darius Songaila, who clocked a little over 14.  Without McGee in the lineup, the Wizards lost shot-blocking power, but it's clear at this stage of McGee's game there are benefits in the body of a Blatche or Songaila, even though the latter of the two cannot move very quickly to get out on the short jumper of Brand, or to close on a guard.

The good news for the Wizards is Mike James, who put up 16 points off the bench in just 23 minutes.  In his debut against Boston, James went 0-for-6, and tonight he went 6-for-12.  The bad news is Nick Young played only a bit over four minutes.  I'm not sure why.  Juan Dixon started tonight and fouled out with 2:07 to go in the game.  He played well, picked up a team-high 5 assists, but the Wizards as a team picked up 27 fouls tonight, and started the first quarter with 7 turnovers.

The Wizards will take a day off tomorrow, and then host the Indiana Pacers on Monday.

Notes: The Wizards and the Sixers both have "interim" head coaches right now, the Wiz with Ed Tapscott, and the Sixers with Tony DiLeo.  DiLeo is the fifth replacement coach this year.